AOL dialing Internet still exists but not for much longer

It may have been decades since you last heard the crunching spellings of internet recruitment, but AOL said it would stop its recruitment service on September 30, officially marks the end of the era in the Internet history. As noted first by PC GamerAOL made the surprising message in a publication buried in its AOL help pages. Along with the dial service, AOL Dialer Software and the AOL Shield browser will also be terminated by the end of September.

This may come as a shock to most that AOL still manages their internet service, but some thousands of users still rely on this outdated method as an affordable way to access the Internet in more rural areas. However, these consumer numbers in the « low thousand » are far from the prime of AOL, which reports that tens of millions of subscribers, most likely thanks to the piles of free test CDS, would find in their mailboxes. Nowadays, recruitment fails to compete against the likes of much faster broadband options, which include alternatives to cable, fiber and satellite.

Although the AOL recruitment service eventually lost its relevance, it remained for 34 years before meeting the same fate as other technological icons of the 90s as Blockbuster, Discmans and Aol Instant Messenger. Now the only time you really hear that the iconic online serenade of America is through recreational social media.